Anhui woman's death from mix of flu strains rare, health officials say

China has recently reported the death of a 63-year-old woman from East China's Anhui province due to a mixed infection of H3N2 and H10N5 flu strains, but the case is rare and the risk of human-to-human transmission is low, according to health authorities.

The woman, a resident in Xuancheng, Anhui, had multiple underlying diseases. She exhibited coughing, a sore throat and a fever on Nov 30 and was admitted into a local hospital on Dec 2, according to a statement released by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration on Tuesday.

On Dec 7, she was transferred to a hospital in neighboring Zhejiang province, where she died on Dec 16.

Provincial and national disease control workers carried out genome sequencing of samples and confirmed her infection was caused by combined strains of H3N2 and H10N5 last week.

None of the woman's close-contacts in Zhejiang and Anhui showed abnormal conditions during medical observations, and their nucleic acid test results were negative. No other suspected cases were found.

H3N2 is a subtype of influenza virus, and one of three major strains that cause seasonal flu epidemics across the nation, according to disease control experts.

H10N5 is an avian virus and cannot effectively infect humans.

"The case is an incidental cross-species transmission from poultry to humans. The risk of the virus spreading to humans is low, and no human-to-human transmission has occurred," the health administration.

It suggested that people avoid direct contact with live poultry and stay away from sick or dead poultry.